Process for converting fine coal into a marketable fuel.



, disintegration JOHN. EVANS, OE MELBOURNE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA.

PROCESS FQR CONVERTING"FINE COAL'I'NTU A MARKETABLE FUEL.

1,140,735, Specification of Letters Patent. no Drawing. Application filed August 14, 1913. Serial No. 784,718.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN EVANS, a British subject, residing at 49 Elizabeth street, Melbourne, in the State of Victoria, Commonwealth of Australia, mining engineer, have invented new and useful Improvements in Processes for Converting Fine Coal into a Marketable Fuel, of which the following is a specification.

This invention of an improved process for converting fine coal into a marketable fuel has been' designed mainly in order to utilize the fine black Australian coal which at present is a Waste product as a commercial fuel by compounding it with an adhesive substance or binder which is partly or wholly soluble in water and then molding it under pressure to a suitable form and finally giving it a coating'which will permit of its being handled and stored without the molded fuel blocks sticking or adhering to one another likewise protecting the fuel from caused by moisture and loss of calorific value by atmospheric influence and which coating forms an important feature in my invention. This fuel may be used either in household grates or in boiler furnaces and the like. The fuel when manufactured is either in the form of briquets or of spherical, cylindric, disk or other form,

or in fact any convenient shape for being handled or stored, while the fine coal used may either be black coal, lignite or brown coal adapted to give the necessary calorific value.

In carrying out the process, I first finely pulverize the coal and then mix it with an I adhesive material or binder which is partially or wholly soluble in water in the proportion of about 2 to 5 per cent. of its bulk such as flour paste, starch, molasses, or a mucilage made from grain, such as wheat, maize or the like diluted with water to such a degree that every particle of coal is moistened and when the pulverized coal and binder are well mixed I submit the compound to the requisite pressure in a suitable molding appliance or machine, and afterward to expel all remaining moisture the so far manufactured fuel is passed through a chamber which is heated to about 212.

Fah.

When the moisture has been expelled the fuel is mechanically dipped in a receptacle containing fluid tar or an admixture of tar with a small proportion of pitch, when afterward the fuel is exposed to a sufficiently high temperature to partially volatilize the tar and leave an impervious coating on the molded fuel, practically a film of pitch, sufficient to prevent its disintegration and to protect it when exposed to moisture or water. The-temperaturenecessary for this operation is from 400 to 500 Fahrenheit; in any case, not less than 400.

Immediately after the last heating step'in the process has been completed the coating is chilled by the fuel being mechanically conveyed through a blast or current of cold air in order to solidify the coating of the molded fuel and make it fit for easy and clean handling and also to prevent the molded blocks adhering to one another when stored or being transported.

' I am aware that pitch has been previously employed as a binding in the manufacture of briquets, but at the present time it is far too costly to allow of its being used alone with Australian fine coal for the purpose hereinbefore stated.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In the manufacture of compressed fuel the process of coating compressed fine coa compounded with an adhesive with fluid tar and pitch, then heating the said coating to a temperature not less than 400 F. which will partially volatilize the tar and leave a film of pitch and finally chilling the said coating by passing the fuel through a current of cold air and for the purpose herein described.

2. The process for converting fine coal into a marketable fuel consisting in first finely pulverizing black coal, hgni'te or Patented May 25, 1915.

brown coal in a suitable machine, then mixfuel through a chamber heated to about 212 Fah., thencoating it with an admixture of fluid tar and pitch, then further submitting name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' JOHN EVANS.

Witnesses:

MEDLINGTON Bonrcoms, LESLIE LAWTON BEAR. 

